Saturday, December 31, 2011

I've been running a 1e game now for a while and the group just turned 5th(ish) level and have just acquired some new henchmen. The group was exploring the megadungeon/dimensional portal/mega-sentient creature called the Goremont Grim that they released from eldritch bonds by accident when they found themselves looking back upon their earlier selves when they first discovered the Goremon Grim and back when it was still bound.

Their current selves were watching their old selves from behind a wall of force that rendered them invisible and unable to communicate. Of course, being the great DM that I am I totally forgot about the various magic items the party has, so when the m-u pulled out the rod of absorption* they got earlier and brought down the wall, the party was face to face with each other.

To make a long story shorter, the younger group decided to hench for the older group (all but one of them that is) so the party is in the strange situation of having themselves as henchmen.

*(This campaign I've been rolling absolutely randomly for treasure, so the party has some items that I would considered too powerful for their level, but I'm not going for that kind of game this time. The dice are Fate and we're all exploring what She has in store.)

A valuable source of information for dungeon delvers, Dwarven Symbols illustrates and explains the 50 most common signs of the symbolic language used by dwarves. Warning signs, directional signs, and informational signs: all of the common ones are in this short large-lettered work. After the publication of this work, the author was outcast by the dwarven communities in which he once had free access.

And exquisitely illustrated book, Seabirds of the Northern Seas contains illustrations and information on over 75 different birds common to coastal areas throughout the northern parts of the known world. Although the author’s name is known, nothing about his life is known; a mystery that confounds scholars given his obvious skills of observation and illustration.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Turns out I thought I'd done the island creation sub-system and, lo and behold, I have not. So that's going to delay it a little be longer as I work that out and test it repetitively. Sorry 'bout that.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

I thought for a long time about how I wanted to present magic items in Worlds Apart and finally I went with my gut on the issue: The Magic Items Section is going to be a toolbox as opposed to a shopping cart. There are two main reasons for this decision. Firstly, Traveler has always favored the do-it-yourself game and I want to continue that. Secondly, I want to non-codify magic in the game to leave it very open to each individual GM's interpretation of how it works in their world. I want magic to be the big unknown. Below's a brief example of what I'm talking about in regards to Worlds Apart magic items.

Magical Equipment
Magic comes in many different shapes and forms: potions, scrolls, wands, arms, armor, and just about every piece of clothing or jewelry imaginable. Most items are common items possessing a single trait, but some powerful items possess several, while the most powerful are truly unique. A character can control as many magic items as he has points of Magical Strength—any items beyond this limit on the character’s body simply do not function. Some items may require more than one point of Magical Strength to control. It takes a day for a PC to attune himself to a new magic item, providing him the benefits of the magic.

All magical items communicate their benefit and how they can be used when held. Some magic items may lie about this and convey false information.

Potions, Scrolls and other Consumables
Any items that are destroyed in their use (such as potions, scrolls, salves, magic foods, etc.) do not require attuning to use. They can be used by anyone at anytime. GMs should exercise their judgment for every item, but the general rule is that a consumable’s magical effects are instantaneous or they last for 1 minute, 1 hour, or 1 day. For example, a GM could rule that drinking a potion with the Healing trait would instantaneously heal 1d6 damage, applying an oil with the Bleeding magic trait will last for 1 minute, inhaling a magic incense with the Smoky magic trait would last for 1 hour, and eating an apple with the Commanding magic trait would last 1 day. The GM should clearly indicate to his players how he will rule for each magic trait when the item is discovered by the players.

Magic Traits
Magical item may possess one or more of the following traits.

Armored
This item resists change. When attuned, the bearer gains a bonus to his armor.

Bane
This item hates a particular type of creature or human culture. When attuned to this item, the bearer deals additional 2d6 damage to such creatures.

Backbiting
This item punishes trickery. Whenever the bearer, or one of the bearers allies, is attacked first (ie. does not initiate combat), the first successful hit against the bearer is magically transferred to the opponent who dealt the blow.

Bleeding
This item craves blood. When attuned to this item, the bearer deals and additional point of damage to all melee attacks. The target suffers this additional single point of damage for the following two rounds as well, resulting in a total of 3 points of damage.

Blinding
This item proves that there are some sights not fit for humankind. The bearer of this item can cause blindness in one target if the target fails to throw 8+ Magical Strength. This ability can be used once per week.

Commanding
This item has lordship over a particular type of creature. Those attuned to the item can command that type of creature to do as commanded and the creature must obey. Sentient creatures can resist the commands by throwing 8+ Magical Strength. Non-sentient creatures (such as animals) always obey the bearer.

Deflecting
This item resists targeting. An attuned player character can deflect a missile attack as a minor action if he throws 6+ Magical Strength.

Desirous
This item knows the wishes of the heart. The item shows the direction to that which its bearer most desires at the moment. The bearer may try to deliberately change his desires to change the guide, but doing so is difficult (throw 11+ Magical Strength).

Friday, December 23, 2011

I've been slowly working on Worlds Apart (our new fantasy game using Traveller OGL rules) and I've only got magic items, the elf race, and a sample sector to finish before it goes into the first round of editing. I'm going to be focusing on that and hopefully get it done within a week. I'm very glad to have the big project come towards and end and hope everyone finds the game as interesting as I do.

In an oaken bowl, add the octopus ink and holly berry juice and mix well by moving the bowl in a circular motion. Coat the stems of grass with the mixture. Pour out the excess liquid and place the bowl containing the stems in a tree hollow for two full moons. On the last day of the second full moon, harvest the ink. The bowl will have changed shape into a wooden vial and within will be a thick black ink. Makes enough ink for 2 scrolls. Any special quill is suitable.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

In a ceramic container, mix all ingredients. Seal container with beeswax. Place container where an animal was once snared or pitted and let sit for 1 lunar cycle. Makes enough ink for 2 scrolls. Any special quill is suitable.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

So I was watching an 1986 episode of Takeshi's Castle last night and in the background they were playing an instrumental version of Territories from 1985's Power Windows album. I had a rather weird moment of conflict of worlds during the recognition process. Rush music and 80's Japanese Game shows previously did not mesh in my world view. Aparantly Takeshi's Castle was known for using popular music... the one I heard is "Home Run: Territories: The theme of The Animal."

Monday, December 19, 2011

I just looked at some of S&SS blog statistics and found that about 10% of visitors are classified by Google Analytics as non-Native English Speaking. I was surprised by that and thought I should say "Hi!" to all those who visit the site from around the world. The internet bring us together in ways that were never able before and hopefully when I'm old and near death, I'll look back upon the development of the 'net as one of the great steps of humanity. Here's to hoping!

This work is invaluable to those contemplating any form of tomb-robbing, for within are dozens of different common curses as well as how to recognize a cursed area. In addition to the practical knowledge, there is much here about the dwellers of ancient Kemet and their society. Anyone reading this book and studying for at least a month gains a 10% chance to detect or notice any cursed area or cursed object associated with ancient Kemet.

Infal expertly details the differences between spoken elven throughout the civilized world, her extensive travels proving vital to the accuracy of her work. Elven Dialects is mainly composed of a series of short dialect dictionaries showing different meaning and usage.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

So I'm working on World's Apart (a fantasy game based upon Mongoose's OGL Traveller), A Magical Society: India, and an unannounced Pathfinder project. All of these are probably 80-100k word projects. That's three big irons in the fire. The problem with these large projects is that I tend to get serially obsessive: working on one exclusively for a short while before moving on to the next. This leaves me little time to do the small, daily, creatives that I really *need* to be doings: Tome of Tomes, Formula Folio, Creatures & Objects Below the Shattered Moon. These four smaller projects help keep my brain from "focus tiredness" and they make good small posts here at the blog and eventually nice little PDFs.

The Bane of Big Ideas is that they trample all before them. Time to force the old brain into doing *everything* that needs to be done.

On a side note, I've just accepted another Advanced Adventure Manuscript (it'll be #25 or #26) and I'm still looking for more. I"m always looking for more AA material.

Monday, December 5, 2011

We're running a 50% off PDF sale with the good folks at Steve Jackson Game's e23 until the end of the month. We've sold our PDFs with e23 for several years now and I realized that I hadn't ran a big sale with them before, so I thought December would be a good month to do so.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Today I am 40! Whoda thunk I'd make it this far? Now that I've had by celebratory breakfast of delicious egg and potato tacos, I've put up a single day sale on our our Sorcery & Super Science! products at rpgnow.com.

They're all $1.Yeah, that's pretty insane... I've never done a $1 sale, but hell, you only turn 40 once and I might as well spread the cheer. Happy birthday to me!

Friday, December 2, 2011

So I've been working on Worlds Apart (our Mongoose Traveller-based fantasy game) for a while now and have been tinkering with the layout. I'm trying to be a bit more graphic-designy on this one. Here's a mock-up of the table of contents spread. I'm pretty pleased with it, but I know I've much more tinkering to do.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

This is something I don't do very often - talk rpg business in public. I normally don't do this because those who are not in the business really don't *know* the business and sadly, I've found that those who know the least tend to be the ones that want to talk the most, certain that they know what's what. Now this may not be the best way to begin a post where I'm effectively asking to speak to people about the business who are not in the business, but I'm interested in your opinions as customers.* And customer opinions are important regardless the knowledge behind the creation and manufacture of a product.

What I've been thinking about is Lulu and how we at Expeditious Retreat Press view the site. We have all the Advanced Adventures PDFs, the two hardbacked Advanced Adventure Compendiums, and Malevolent & Benign: A First Edition Bestiary for sale at Lulu. This means we've been treating Lulu as a source of mainly digital sales and sales of hardbacked material that isn't cost-efficient for us to print in sort runs. I'm certain I could do profitable short runs of the hardbacks, but I would have a lot of sunk cost and would need to spend considerable time before those costs are repaid and turned into profit. I prefer faster turning material - less capital risk, quicker return - because this industry can be *brutal* to those who make a single mistake regarding a sunk cost. Capital, once spent, is gone until recouped and the faster that turnaround the better, IMO.

However, the big sale at Lulu has made me think that perhaps I should be viewing Lulu as a secondary source of *physical* product. There is obviously a demand for our hardbacked-stuff, but I'm now wondering were I put all the Advanced Adventures (as well as a significant part of back catalog) for sale as physical products at Lulu if we would grow physical sales significantly. Sales of physical product is Lulu's purpose, after all, but I have been hesitant to do such because we also sell physical copy direct from the Expeditious Retreat website.

My concern is would we split that revenue stream, and if we did, would it result in increased profitability regardless? I make more per unit selling direct than in any other way, and were I to end up splitting the stream by customers choosing Lulu over our website, I could end up making less even while selling more. Additionally, there will be a considerable time cost in making the material available at Lulu. What I want to happen would be to reach customers who do not shop at our website, but who would gladly shop at Lulu.

So the question to you if you would be so kind to respond is "Would you be more likely, equally likely, or less likely to purchase a product at Lulu rather than at the Expeditious Retreat website?" I've made it a poll, for easy answering.

*We are customers, not consumers. I find the term "consumer" derogatory. We are not senseless gaping maws - we are people first, sources of cash second.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Lulu's been putting out some great coupon codes lately. The last one was buy one get one 50% off, but this one may be the best I've seen them do. 30% off your entire order. Pretty cool. It's only for tomorrow, though.

CYBERMONDAY305 for 30% off at lulu. If you plan on doing an insane amount of shopping MORECYBERMONDAY305 gets you 35% off, but you have to order at least $750 worth of books. Yeah, me neither... :)

Friday, November 25, 2011

I just picked up the Kara-Tur boxed set at Half Price Books and I'm glad to see it sitting on my shelf. It's something that I've wanted to look at for a long, long time and now I'll be able to devour bits and pieces of it at my leisure. I know that I'm probably in the Old-School minority, but I've always like the 1e Oriental Adventures hardback and I'm intrigued to see what type of setting they supported it with.

Monday, November 21, 2011

I've been working a lot on Pathfinder material lately and I've just gotten a few books on India that are calling me from the shelves. In particular, The Economy of the Mughal Empire c. 1595, is demanding that I pick it up and read it. The other books, Mughal Warfare and A New History of India are no slouches, but I'm such a sucker for table about grain production and how many tons of silver were mined in a decade. Raw data for the fantasy grist mill.

Exploring the mechanical methods of number manipulation as well as their esoteric quality, Numbers has long been the go-to book for anyone interested in the subject, but Heuch’s unique take on the supernatural powers of numerology as just as long been the source of great contention within the erudite community.

An old work, and one slimly illustrated, Fyshe of the Sea has long been a staple of many libraries on the subject. There is little here to recommend for deep investigation, but the work serves as a good general source for pointing where more information is needed.

A study of the stone giant tribes within the Garvian Mountains, this work provides an insider’s look into their history and culture. Koppie lived most of his adult life moving between the major tribal leaders. He even acted as an intermediary settling disputes between clans, such was his respect among the various tribes.

Monday, October 31, 2011

We've gotten a massive string of reviews of our Advanced Adventures line from Bryce over at tenfootpole We're always looking for review links and please feel free to send them to josephbrowning@gmail.com and I'll put them up at our website. He did them in reverse order (starting with #21 and ending with #1).

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Yep, you heard right! We've got two hardback compendiums (Number 1 compiling AA1-10, Number 2 compiling 11-20) up for sale now at Lulu for $50 each. That's about 40% of what you'd pay to purchase them individually.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

So I got the art in for Meet the New Boss, our forthcoming scenario for One Shot, our forthcoming game for one-shot rpging. We've got a lot forthcoming, I guess. :) Meet the New Boss is about 5 mafia bosses sitting down to talk out their problems. The art is by Joan Guardiet.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Description & Information: Filth rats are most commonly found in the ruins of the ancients. They live in small packs of less than a dozen and are very territorial. They are around 4 feet in length (including tail) and weigh up to 50 pounds. Although they are capable of delivering a rather nasty bite, they prefer to attack from a distance, earning their name by throwing their excrement with their tail to a range of 50 feet. A filth rat colony is lead by the elder matriarch and composed mainly of male rats vying for her attention. Other females are ostracized from the colony once breeding age is achieved.

Intrinsic Powers• Filth rats are wiry and tough creatures and reduce all physical damage received by 1 point per hit.• Filth rats may attack with a bite, dealing +3 piercing damage and a +4/ rank 4 combat condition, but they rarely do so unless cornered.

Limited Use Powers• Filth rats can throw their newly excreted feces at targets up to 50 feet away. This deals no damage, but forces hit targets to succeed on a rank 10 Fortitude conflict or spend the next two turns retching, capable only of self-defense. Additionally, if the conflict fails by more than 4 points, the target is diseased.

Monday, October 24, 2011

I'm still plugging away at World's Apart - my take on a fantasy Traveller (the Mongoose OGL Version). One of the things I'm trying to do differently with World's Apart is I'm trying to remain faithful to the nature and focus of the Traveller rules on exploration, trade, and ships while bringing in the fantasy element, as opposed to simply using the Traveller rules to make a more generic fantasy game. I'm not interested in "playing D&D" with different rules. I want to play Traveller in a different environment.

So with that, here's the first non-human race - Dwarves. You notice that non-humans in Worlds Apart are significantly tougher than humans. This is for two reasons. One, they're all optional as I expect the players to be all human and two, they have to be tougher to actually make the mythical races mythical. Balance shmalanch, I'm interested in options.

Dwarves

Dwarves are a hardy and
artistic race, quick to love, laugh and brawl. They love a good little fight
and quickly well up with deep emotion at the drop of a hat. They are an
intrinsically non-magical race with a preternatural understanding of mechanical
works. Their love of wealth is well-known and true and is matched only by their
love of drink.

Characteristics: Dwarves add
a +1 to Strength and Endurance. Dwarves have a maximum of 17 in those two
abilities.

Special Effects: Every time a
dwarf is directly and personally subjected to some magical effect, there is a
slight chance (throw 12+ without modifiers of any sort) that it simply does not
work. This does not work on magic that affect an area, only upon magic that
targets the dwarf specifically. Surprisingly, dwarves have no difficulties
using magic items.

Background Skills: A dwarf
gains background skills as does a human. However, all dwarves gain Mechanic 0
as an additional background skill.

Careers: A dwarf character
must go through two terms as a dwarf before other careers (except drifter) are
allowed. Of course, a dwarf may choose to remain in the dwarf career. Dwarves
do not count their required two dwarf terms when determining their number of
previous careers for qualification purposes. Unlike humans who begin rolling on
the aging table at the end of their 5th term, dwarves do not start
rolling on the aging table until at the end of their 10th term. A
dwarf may never learn to use magic: if such is indicated, ignore the result.

Qualification: End 5+

–1 DM for every previous
career.

Assignments: Choose one of
the following:

• Brawler: You love a good fight and are always ready for
another. Death in combat is your destiny.

• Bawler: All those who die need remembrance. You remind
your people of those who have gone before.

• Bastard: You realize that between the battle and the tears,
there’s money to be made.

Career Progress

Assignment

Survival

Advancement

Brawler

End 6+

Edu 6+

Bawler

Soc 5+

Edu 6+

Bastard

Edu 4+

Int 6+

Mustering-Out

Roll

Cash

Benefits

1

2,000 sp

Magic Item (weapon)

2

3,000 sp

+1 End

3

4,000 sp

Voyager Ship Share

4

5,000 sp

+1 Str

5

6,000 sp

Magic Item (any)

6

7,000 sp

+1 End

7

8,000 sp

+2 Soc, +1 End, +1 Str

Skills and Training

Roll

Personal Development

Service Skills

Advanced Education (Minimum
Edu 8)

1

+1 Str

Art (any)

Leadership

2

+1 Soc

Athletics (any)

Medic

3

+1 End

Broker

Missile or Melee Combat
(any)

4

+1 Edu

Mechanic

Social Science (history)

5

Gambling

Melee Combat (any)

Streewise

6

Melee Combat (unarmed)

Melee Combat (unarmed)

Tactics (military)

Roll

Assignment: Brawler

Assignment: Bawler

Assignment: Bastard

1

Athletics (any)

Art (any)

Admin

2

Carouse

Carouse

Advocate

3

Melee Combat (any)

Melee Combat (any)

Broker

4

Missile Combat (any)

Persuade

Jack of All Trades

5

Recon

Stealth

Melee Combat (any)

6

Streetwise

Streetwise

Streetwise

Ranks and Skills

Rank

Title

0

Dwarf

Carouse 1

1

Jackjaw

Melee Combat (any) 1 or
Missile Combat (any) 1

2

Stonefist

Streetwise 1

3

Ironhand

Leadership 1 or Persuade 1

4

5

Master Dwarf

Tactics (military) 1 or
Leadership 1

6

Mishaps

1d6

Mishap

1

Severely injured by a case
of a smart mouth at the wrong time. (This is the same as a result of 2 on the
Injury table.)

2

Not everyone appreciates a
singing drunk. Roll Melee Combat 8+ to avoid injury. Roll on the Injury table
treating a 1 result as a 6.

3

Magic fails you at an
important time, leaving you wounded. Reduce a randomly determined
characteristic by 1 point.

4

You make a shady deal that
comes back to bite you in the rear end. Leave your career and suffer a -1 to
your mustering out throw. If you have not completed two terms as a dwarf you
become a drifter for your next career.

5

You drink much more than
you should, even for a dwarf. You must make at least one cash Mustering-Out
roll and that roll is reduced by 4 points.

6

Injured. Roll on the Injury
table.

Events

2d6

Events

2

Disaster! Roll on the
mishap table, but you are not ejected from this career.

The lure of the city calls
you. Gain one of Streetwise 1, Carouse 1, Gambling 1 or Language (any) 1

5

A rich patron finds you
very useful. Gain +2 DM to one Cash Mustering-Out roll.

6

You somehow end up in a
library and find yourself interested in the sciences. Gain 0 in two different
Any Sciences (any)

7

Life Event. Roll on the
Life Events table.

8

You act as a go-between
between two parties whom wish none to know of their contact. Gain one of
Diplomat 1, Melee Combat (any) 1, Missile Combat (any) 1, or Stealth 1.

9

You make a big score and
fund some education outside your normal scope. Gain one of Diplomat 1, Pilot
1 (any), or Tactics (naval) 1.

10

You perform a valuable
service to your people. Gain +1 Social Standing.

11

You end up teaching others
your craft and expand your normal repertoire of abilities through interacting
with the local nobility in a different field. Either gain Advocate 1 or a +4
DM to your next Advancement roll.

12

You show great courage and
valor in combat. You are automatically promoted.